Cassini–Huygens Spacecraft - Aerospace Technology An impression of the probe after its landing on Titan. Cassini–Huygens Spacecraft, United States of America Cassini-Huygens is a space mission aiming to reach the planet Saturn and its satellites. It is a joint effort of Nasa, ESA (European Space Agency) and ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana / Italian Space Agency). The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched in October 1997 from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) in Florida. The mission landed on Saturn's moon, Titan, in January 2005 after a seven-year journey through the solar system. Cassini completed its first four-year mission in June 2008. The first extension, called the Cassini Equinox Mission, was completed in September 2010. It is currently on a second extension, named the Cassini Solstice Mission. This mission is expected to be completed in September 2017. The mission is being managed by Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Purpose of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn The Cassini-Huygens programme was launched to study Saturn and its moons, including Titan and Enceladus. In the first mission, Huygens probed the planet's largest moon, Titan. Images of large bodies of liquid were sent back to Earth. Meanwhile, Cassini sent a stream of data on Saturn's system. The extended mission has studied the other icy moons and rings of the planet. In the Solstice mission, Cassini will revisit the moons and the rings for further studies. Design of the Cassini orbiter and Huygens probe "The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida." Cassini-Huygens is a three-axis stabilised spacecraft. It is equipped for 27 diverse science investigations. It consists of two main elements -- the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe. The Cassini orbiter has 12 instruments while the Huygens probe has six. Many instruments in these elements are functional in multiple domains and different environments. Communication between the base station and the spacecraft takes place through one high gain antenna.

There are also two low gain antennas which are used during emergencies, such as power failures. Power to the instruments, computers, radio transmitters, attitude thrusters and reaction wheels is provided through three RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric generators). Huygens probe details and composition Huygens is named after 17th century Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens. It has been designed by the ESA to investigate the clouds, atmosphere and surface of Titan. The probe resembles a shellfish, with the interior protected by an outer hard shell. It weighs 319kg and measures 2.7m across. The probe is composed of two parts. The Entry Assembly Module housed the equipment which controlled Huygens after its separation from Cassini, while the Descent Module contained instruments and parachutes to aid its descent on to Titan. Launch of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft and planetary fly-bys Cassini-Huygens was launched on the Titan IV-B / Centaur launch vehicle. Launched on 15 October 1997, the mission took seven years to reach its destination.

As the heavy weight spacecraft (5,600kg) could not be carried by any launch vehicle directly to its destination, the gravity assist (fly-bys) technique was used to 'push' the spacecraft to Saturn. The gravity assist technique works as a result of mutual gravitational forces of the spacecraft and the planets which it passes by. The resulting exchange of energy supplies the required momentum to the spacecraft. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft got its momentum by looping around the Sun twice. In the first loop, it gained energy from Venus on 26 April 1998. In the second loop, it again gained energy from Venus on 24 June 1999, and from Earth on 18 August the same year. With this momentum, the spacecraft was able to reach the outer solar system. The final momentum was supplied by a fly-by of Jupiter on 30 December 2000. The mission reached Saturn on 25 December 2004. The Cassini orbiter completed 74 orbits, including 44 fly-bys of Titan, in four years from July 2004 to June 2008.

Huygens probe's journey to Saturn's moon, Titan The Huygens probe separated from Cassini on the same day that the spacecraft reached Saturn. The probe travelled for 20 days before entering the atmosphere of Titan on 14 January 2005. The probe landed on Titan with the help of three parachutes. Cassini orbiter provided the probe support equipment for Huygens to track, collect and deliver the data during its descent. The scientific instruments in the probe became active just before it touched Titan's atmosphere. The probe is the most distant landing of a craft launched from Earth. Cassini orbiter instruments and key components The instruments are divided into three groups: optical remote sensing instruments, fields, particles and waves sensing instruments and microwave remote sensing instruments. "The mission is being managed by Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California." Optical remote sensing instruments are mounted on the remote sensing pallet. These instruments constitute: a composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS), imaging science subsystem (ISS), ultraviolet imaging spectrograph (UVIS) and visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS). Fields, particles and waves instruments are used to study dust, plasma and magnetic fields around Saturn.

They include: the Cassini plasma spectrometer (CAPS), cosmic dust analyzer (CDA), ion and neutral mass spectrometer (INMS), magnetometer (MAG), magnetospheric imaging instrument (MIMI) and radio and plasma wave science (RPWS). Microwave remote sensing instruments are used to map atmospheres, determine the mass of moons, collect data on ring particle size and unveil the surface of Titan. The two instruments in this category are: radar and radio science (RSS). Share Cassini-Huygens mission facts / Cassini-Huygens / Space Science / Our Activities / ESA Cassini-Huygens mission facts Exploring both Saturn and Titan, Saturn's mysterious moon Name Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) was a Dutch scientist who discovered Saturn's rings and, in 1655, its largest moon, Titan. Italian Jean-Dominique Cassini (1625-1712) discovered the Saturnian satellites Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione. In 1675 he discovered what is known today as the 'Cassini Division', the narrow gap separating Saturn's rings.

Description Cassini-Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI mission. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft continues to orbit Saturn, making an extensive survey of the ringed planet and its moons. The ESA Huygens probe is the first to land on a world in the outer Solar System - on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Data from Cassini and Huygens may offer clues about how life began on Earth. Launch 15 October 1997 (Titan-IVB/Centaur at Cape Canaveral, United States). Status The spacecraft arrived at Saturn in July 2004. Cassini is in operation, orbiting around Saturn. The Huygens probe landed on Titan on 14 January 2005. Journey The 5.6-tonne Cassini-Huygens spacecraft made four gravity-assist swing-by manoeuvres. These manoeuvres were: Venus (April 1998), Venus (June 1999), Earth (August 1999), and Jupiter (December 2000).

In December 2004, towards the end of Cassini's third orbit around Saturn, the Huygens probe was ejected on a 22-day cruise to Titan. Huygens reached Titan on 14 January 2005. Notes Cassini-Huygens is the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built. Gravity-assists from two swing-bys of Venus and one of Earth provide the equivalent of 68 040 kilograms of rocket fuel. During the long journey to Saturn, ESA scientists 'woke up' the Huygens probe every six months to check that all was well. The Huygens probe can withstand temperatures of up to 18 000°C in front of the heat shield. The heat generated as Huygens travelled through Titan's thick gas atmosphere was immense. Titan is one of the most mysterious objects in our Solar System. It is the second largest moon and the only one with a thick, methane-rich, nitrogen atmosphere. Experts think that its atmosphere resembles that of a very young Earth.

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It has studied the planet and its many natural satellites since arriving there in 2004, also observing Jupiter and the heliosphere, and testing the theory of relativity. Launched in 1997 after nearly two decades of development, it includes a Saturn orbiter and an atmospheric probe/lander for the moon Titan called Huygens, which entered and landed on Titan in 2005. Cassini is the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter orbit, and its mission is ongoing as of 2014. The two-part spacecraft is named after astronomers Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. The spacecraft launched on October 15, 1997 aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur and entered orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004, after an interplanetary voyage which included flybys of Earth, Venus, and Jupiter. On December 25, 2004, Huygens separated from the orbiter at approximately 02:00 UTC. It reached Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005, when it entered Titan's atmosphere and descended to the surface.

It successfully returned data to Earth, using the orbiter as a relay. This was the first landing ever accomplished in the outer Solar System. Nearly a decade after entering orbit, on April 3, 2014, NASA reported that evidence for a large underground ocean of liquid water on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, had been found by Cassini. According to scientists, evidence of an underground ocean suggests that Enceladus is one of the most likely places in the solar system to "host microbial life". On June 30, 2014, NASA celebrated ten years of Cassini exploring Saturn and its moons, highlighting the discovery of water activity on Enceladus among other findings. Collect your Amazing Cassini Huygens today! It's definately a Must! Hello and thanks for shopping with Makecnc! These 3d puzzles are a downloadable product that have been made ready to cut on any CNC router or CNC laser machine. They are supplied as ready-to-cut DXF vector files for CNC routers and EPS for CNC lasers machines. Patterns may be scaled to the size you require for your material thickness using our Scale Calculator CNC Routers Users !

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Cassini-Huygens Space Mission - Springer 16 October 2015 Cassini-Huygens Space Mission Athena CoustenisAffiliated withLaboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA), Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris-Diderot Email author Cassini-Huygens Cassini orbiter Huygens probe Kronian satellites Rings Saturn Titan Enceladus Synonyms Cassini mission ; Cassini spacecraft ; Huygens probe Definition Cassini-Huygens is a large NASA -ESA- ASI mission, composed of the Saturn orbiter ( Cassini ) and the Titan lander ( Huygens ). Cassini-Huygens reached Saturn in 2004 after a trip that lasted about 7.5 years and has since then been investigating the Saturnian environment, carrying out the first detailed survey of the planet , its rings, and the 62 currently known satellites, with a focus on Titan . The Cassini instruments have returned a great amount of data that have revolutionized our view of the Saturnian system.

The orbiter is foreseen to remain operational until 2017. History An ambitious and international mission to explore the Saturnian system was initially proposed to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1982 by a team of European and US scientists. After extensive discussions between ESA and NASA, the initial concepts eventually evolved by 1989 into Cassini-Huyg ... This is an excerpt from the content Page %P References (37) References and Further Reading Atreya SK, Adams EY, Niemann HB, Demick-Montelara JE, Owen TC, Fulchignoni M, Ferri F, Wilson EH (2006) Titan’s methane cycle. Planet Space Sci 54:1177–1187 CrossRef ADS Brown RH, Soderblom LA, Soderblom JM, Clark RN, Jaumann R, Barnes JW, Sotin C, Buratti B, Baines KH, Nicholson PD (2008) The identification of liquid ethane in Titan’s Ontario Lacus.

Nature 454:607–610 CrossRef ADS Brown RH, Lebreton J-P, Waite H (eds) (2009) Titan from Cassini-Huygens. Springer, New York, p 535. ISBN 10:1402092148 Cordier D et al (2012) Titan’s lakes chemical composition: sources of uncertainties and variability. Planet Space Sci 61:99–107 CrossRef ADS Coustenis A, Encrenaz T (2013) Life beyond Earth: the search for habitable worlds in the Universe. Cambridge University Press, New York CrossRef Coustenis A, Taylor F (2008) Titan: exploring an earth-like world. World Scientific, Singapore CrossRef Coustenis A et al (2010) Titan trace gaseous composition from CIRS at the end of the Cassini-Huygens prime mission. Icarus 207:461–476 CrossRef ADS Dougherty M, Esposito L, Krimigis T (eds) (2009) Saturn from Cassini-Huygens.

Springer, New York, p 805. ISBN 10: 1402092164 Fulchignoni M et al (2005) In situ measurements of the physical characteristics of Titan’s environment. Nature 438(7069):785–791 CrossRef ADS Hayes A, Aharonson O, Callahan P, Elachi C, Gim Y, Kirk R, Lewis K, Lopes R, Lorenz R, Lunine J, Mitchell K, Mitri G, Stofan E, Wall S (2008) Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan: distribution and interaction with a porous regolith. Geophys Res Lett 35, L09204 CrossRef ADS Iess L et al (2012) The tides of Titan. Science 337:457 CrossRef ADS Lebreton J-P, Coustenis A, Lunine J, Raulin F, Owen T, Strobel D (2008) Results from the Huygens probe on Titan.

Astron Astrophys Rev 17:149–179 CrossRef ADS Lopes RMC, Kirk RL, Mitchell KL et al (2013) Cryovolcanism on Titan: new results from Cassini RADAR and VIMS. J Geophys Res 118:416–435 CrossRef Lorenz RD, Mitton J (2008) Titan unveiled. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Lorenz RD et al (2006) The sand seas of Titan: Cassini RADAR observations of longitudinal dunes. Science 312:724–727 CrossRef ADS Lorenz RD et al (2008a) Fluvial channels on Titan: initial Cassini RADAR observations. Planet Space Sci 56:1132–1144 CrossRef ADS Lorenz RD et al (2008b) Titan’s rotation reveals an internal ocean and changing zonal winds. Science 319:1649–1651 CrossRef ADS Lunine J, Raulin F (2010) Titan and the Cassini-Huygens mission, Chapter 29.

In: Gargaud M, Lopez-Garcia P, Martin H (eds) Origin and evolution of life: an astrobiology perspective. Cambridge University Press, New York Mitri G, Showman AP, Lunine JI, Lorenz RD (2007) Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. Icarus 186:385–394 CrossRef ADS Mueller-Wodarg I, Griffith CA, Lellouch E, Cravens TE (eds) (2014) Titan: interior, surface, atmosphere and space environment. Cambridge University Press, UK Nelson RM, Brown RH, Radebaugh J, Lorenz RD, Kirk RL, Lunine JI, Stofan ER, Lopes RMC, Wall SD, The Cassini Radar Team (2007) Mountains on Titan observed by Cassini radar. Icarus 192:77–91 CrossRef ADS Niemann H et al (2005) The abundances of constituents of Titan’s atmosphere from the GCMS instrument on the Huygens probe.

Nature 438:779–784 CrossRef ADS Porco C et al (2005) Imaging of Titan from the Cassini spacecraft. Nature 434:159–168 CrossRef ADS Radebaugh J, Lorenz RD, Kirk RL, Lunine JI, Stofan ER, Lopes RMC, Wall SD, The Cassini Radar Team (2007) Mountains on Titan observed by Cassini Radar. Icarus 192(1):77–91 CrossRef ADS Radebaugh J, Lorenz RD, Lunine JI, Wall SD, Boubin G, Reffet E, Kirk RL, Lopes RM, Stofan ER et al (2008) Dunes on Titan observed by Cassini radar. Icarus 194:690–703 CrossRef ADS Raulin F (2008) Planetary science: organic lakes on Titan. Nature 454:587–589 CrossRef ADS Raulin F, Gazeau M-C, Lebreton JP (2008) Latest news from Titan.

Planet Space Sci 56(5):571–572 CrossRef ADS Raulin F, Brasse C, Poch O, Coll P (2012) Prebiotic-like chemistry on Titan. Chem Soc Rev 41(16):5380–5393 CrossRef Russell CT (ed) (2004) The Cassini-Huygens mission. Kluwer, Dordrecht Soderblom LA, Tomasko MG, Archinal BA, Becker TL et al (2007a) Topography and geomorphology of the Huygens landing site on Titan. Planet Space Sci 55:2015–2024 CrossRef ADS Soderblom LA, Kirk RL, Lunine JI et al (2007b) Correlations between Cassini VIMS spectra and RADAR SAR images: implications for Titan’s surface composition and the character of the Huygens probe landing site.

Planet Space Sci 55:2025–2036 CrossRef ADS Solomonidou A, Bampasidis G, Hirtzig M et al (2013) Morphotectonic features on Titan and their possible origin. Planet Space Sci 77:104–117 CrossRef ADS Sotin C, Lawrence KJ, Reinhardt B et al (2005) Release of volatiles from a possible cryovolcano from near-infrared imaging of Titan. Nature 435:786–789 CrossRef ADS Spencer J (2013) Solar system: Saturn’s tides control Enceladus’ plume. Nature 500:155–156 CrossRef ADS Stofan ER, Elachi C, Lunine JI et al (2007) The lakes of Titan. Nature 445:61–64 CrossRef ADS Tomasko MG et al (2005) Results from the descent imager/spectral radiometer (DISR) instrument on the Huygens probe of Titan.

Nature 438:765–778 CrossRef ADS Waite H et al (2007) The process of tholin formation in Titan’s upper atmosphere. Science 316:870–875 CrossRef ADS About this Reference Work Entry Title 1. CNRS-Universite de Bordeaux, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux 2. University of Massachusetts 3. Departamento de Biologia Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 4. Earth–Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of Technology 5. GEOTOP Research Center for Geochemistry and Geodynamics, Université du Québec à Montréal 6. Department of Astrophysics, Laboratory of Molecular Astrophysics, Iorrejón de Ardoz 7. LESIA, Observatoire Paris-Site de Meudon 8. Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Planetenforschung 9. Centre François Viéte d'Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques EA 1161, Faculté des Sciences et des, Techniques de Nantes 10.

CNES/DSP/SME, Vétérinaire/DVM, Astro/Exobiology BBC - Solar System - Cassini-Huygens (pictures, video, facts & news) The Cassini-Huygens mission Researchers describe the Cassini-Huygens probe's design. Researchers describe the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft's instruments and mission. They talk about the technical challenges they faced during the Huygens probe landing in 2005. About Cassini-Huygens Cassini–Huygens is an unmanned spacecraft sent to the planet Saturn. It is a Flagship-class NASA–ESA–ASI robotic spacecraft.Cassini is the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter orbit, and its mission is ongoing as of 2016[update]. It has studied the planet and its many natural satellites since arriving there in 2004. Development started in the 1980s. Its design includes a Saturn orbiter (Cassini) and a lander (Huygens) for the moon Titan. The two spacecraft are named after astronomers Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens.

The spacecraft launched on October 15, 1997 aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur and entered orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004, after an interplanetary voyage that included flybys of Earth, Venus, and Jupiter. On December 25, 2004, Huygens separated from the orbiter and landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. It successfully returned data to Earth, using the orbiter as a relay. This was the first landing ever accomplished in the outer Solar System. Cassini continued to study the Saturn system in the following years, and continues to operate as of 2016, although it is currently going to be destroyed in 2017 by flying into Saturn, since it is running out of fuel for orbital corrections. The probe will dive into the planet to avoid potential biological contamination of Saturn's moons. As of November 30, 2016, Cassini will enter the final phase of the project. Cassini will dive through the outer ring of Saturn 20 times, once every 7 days.

The spacecraft will enter areas that have been untouched up until this point, getting the closest look ever at Saturn's outer rings. The first pass of the rings took place on December 4, 2016. The Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn | ANS Nuclear Cafe The Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn Posted on by ansnuclearcafe By Stan Tackett Cassini-Huygens is a Flagship-class NASA-ESA-ASI robotic spacecraft sent to the Saturn system. It has studied the planet and its many natural satellites since its arrival there in 2004, as well as observing Jupiter and the Heliosphere, and testing the theory of relativity. Launched in 1997 after nearly two decades of gestation, it includes a Saturn orbiter Cassini and an atmospheric probe/lander Huygens that landed in 2005 on the moon Titan. Cassini is the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter orbit, and its mission is ongoing as of 2013. It is powered by a plutonium power source, and has facilitated many landmark scientific discoveries in its mission to the stars.

A Cassini RTG before installation Because of Saturn’s distance from the Sun, solar arrays were not feasible as power sources for this space probe. To generate enough power, such arrays would have been too large and too heavy. Instead, the Cassini orbiter is powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which use heat from the natural decay of about 33 kg (73 lb) of plutonium-238 (in the form of plutonium dioxide) to generate direct current electricity via thermoelectrics. The RTGs on the Cassini mission have the same design as those used on the New Horizons, Galileo, and Ulysses space probes, and they were designed to have a very long operational lifetime. At the end of the nominal 11-year Cassini mission, they will still be able to produce 600 to 700 watts of electrical power. One of the spare RTGs for the Cassini mission was used to power the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt.

A glowing-hot plutonium pellet that will become the power source for the probe’s RTG To gain interplanetary momentum while in flight, the trajectory of the Cassini mission included several gravitational slingshot maneuvers: two fly-by passes of Venus, one more of the Earth, and then one of the planet Jupiter. The terrestrial fly-by maneuver was successful, with Cassini passing by 500 km (310 mi) above the Earth on August 18, 1999. Had there been a malfunction causing the Cassini space probe to collide with the Earth, NASA’s complete environmental impact study estimated that, in the worst case (with an acute angle of entry in which Cassini would gradually burn up), a significant fraction of the 33 kg of plutonium-238 inside the RTGs could have been dispersed into the Earth’s atmosphere. NASA estimated the odds against that happening at more than 1 million to one. Selected events and discoveries for Cassini Cassini made its closest approach to Jupiter on December 30, 2000, and made many scientific measurements. About 26,000 images of Jupiter were taken during the months-long flyby.

Cassini produced the most detailed global color portrait of Jupiter yet (see image at right), in which the smallest visible features are approximately 60 km (37 mi) across. The New Horizons mission to Pluto captured more recent images of Jupiter, with a closest approach on February 28, 2007. A major finding of the flyby, announced on March 6, 2003, was of Jupiter’s atmospheric circulation. Dark “belts” alternate with light “zones” in the atmosphere, and scientists had long considered the zones, with their pale clouds, to be areas of upwelling air, partly because many clouds on Earth form where air is rising. But analysis of Cassini imagery showed that individual storm cells of upwelling bright-white clouds, too small to see from Earth, pop up almost without exception in the dark belts. Other atmospheric observations included a swirling dark oval of high atmospheric-haze, about the size of the Great Red Spot, near Jupiter’s north pole. Infrared imagery revealed aspects of circulation near the poles, with bands of globe-encircling winds, with adjacent bands moving in opposite directions. The same announcement also discussed the nature of Jupiter’s rings.

Light scattering by particles in the rings showed the particles were irregularly shaped (rather than spherical) and likely originate as ejecta from micrometeorite impacts on Jupiter’s moons, probably Metis and Adrastea. Tests of General Relativity On October 10, 2003, the Cassini science team announced the results of tests of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, which were done by using radio waves that were transmitted from the Cassini space probe. This remains the best measurement of post-Newtonian parameter γ; the result γ = 1 + (2.1 ± 2.3) × 10-5 agrees with the predictions of standard General Relativity. The radio scientists measured a frequency shift in the radio waves to and from the spacecraft, while those signals traveled close to the Sun. According to the Theory of General Relativity, a massive object like the Sun causes space-time to curve, and a beam of radio waves (or light, or any form of electromagnetic radiation) that passes by the Sun has to travel farther because of this curvature. The extra distance that the radio waves traveled from the Cassini craft, past the Sun, to the Earth delayed their arrival.

The amount of this time delay provided a sensitive test of the calculated predictions of Einstein’s Relativity Theory. Although some measurable deviations from the values that are calculated using the General Theory of Relativity are predicted by some unusual cosmological models, no deviations were found by this experiment. Previous tests using radio waves that were transmitted by the Viking and Voyager space probes were in agreement with the calculated values from General Relativity to within an accuracy of one part in one thousand. The more refined measurements from the Cassini space probe experiment improved this accuracy to about one part in 51,000, with the measured data firmly supporting Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. New moons of Saturn Using images taken by Cassini, three new moons of Saturn were discovered in 2004. They are very small and were given the provisional names S/2004 S 1, S/2004 S 2, and S/2004 S 5, before being named Methone, Pallene, and Polydeuces at the beginning of 2005. On May 1, 2005, a new moon was discovered by Cassini in the Keeler gap.

It was given the designation S/2005 S 1, before being named Daphnis. The only other known moon inside Saturn’s ring system is the moon Pan. A fifth new moon was discovered by Cassini on May 30, 2007, now known as Anthe. A press release on February 3, 2009, showed a sixth new moon found by Cassini. The moon is approximately 1/3 of a mile in diameter within the G-ring of the ring system of Saturn, and is now named Aegaeon. A press release on November 2, 2009, mentions the seventh new moon found by Cassini on July 26, 2009. It is presently labeled S/2009 S 1, and is approximately 300 m (984 ft.) in diameter in the B-ring system. Phoebe flyby On June 11, 2004, Cassini flew by the moon Phoebe. This was the first opportunity for closeup studies of this moon since the Voyager 2 flyby.

It also was Cassini’s only possible flyby for Phoebe due to the mechanics of the available orbits around Saturn. The first closeup images were received on June 12, 2004, and mission scientists immediately realized that the surface of Phoebe looks different from asteroids visited by spacecraft. Parts of the heavily cratered surfaces look very bright in those pictures, and it is currently believed that a large amount of water ice exists under its immediate surface. Saturn rotation In an announcement on June 28, 2004, Cassini program scientists described the measurement of the rotational period of Saturn. Since there are no fixed features on the surface that can be used to obtain this period, the repetition of radio emissions was used. These new data agree with the latest values measured from Earth, and constitute a puzzle to the scientists. It turns out that the radio rotational period has changed since it was first measured in 1980 by Voyager, and that it is now six minutes longer. This does not indicate a change in the overall spin of the planet, but is thought to be due to movement of the source of the radio emissions to a different latitude, at which the rotation rate is different.

Orbiting Saturn On July 1, 2004, the Cassini spacecraft flew through the gap between Saturn’s F and G rings and achieved orbit, after a seven-year voyage. Cassini is the first spacecraft to ever orbit Saturn. The Saturn Orbital Insertion maneuver performed by Cassini was complex, requiring the craft to orient its high-gain antenna away from Earth and along its flight path, to shield its instruments from particles in Saturn’s rings. Once the craft crossed the ring plane, it had to rotate again to point its engine along its flight path, and then the engine fired to decelerate the craft by 622 m/s (1391 mph) to allow Saturn to capture it. Cassini was captured by Saturn’s gravity at around 8:54 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on June 30, 2004. During the maneuver, Cassini passed within 20,000 km (12,000 mi) of Saturn’s cloud tops.

Titan flybys Cassini had its first distant flyby of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, on July 2, 2004, only a day after orbit insertion, when it approached to within 339,000 km (211,000 mi) of Titan and provided the best look at Titan’s surface to date. Images taken through special filters (able to see through the moon’s global haze) showed south polar clouds thought to be composed of methane, and surface features with widely differing brightness. On October 27, 2004, the spacecraft executed the first of 45 planned close flybys of Titan, when it flew a mere 1,200 kilometers above the moon. Almost four gigabits of data were collected and transmitted to Earth, including the first radar images of the moon’s haze-enshrouded surface. It revealed the surface of Titan (at least the area covered by radar) to be relatively level, with topography reaching no more than about 50 meters in altitude. The flyby provided a remarkable increase in imaging resolution over previous coverage.

Images with up to 100 times better resolution were taken and are typical of resolutions planned for future Titan flybys. Huygens lands on Titan Cassini released the Huygens probe on December 25, 2004, by means of a spring and spiral rails intended to rotate the probe for greater stability. Huygens entered the atmosphere of Titan on January 14, 2005, and after a two-and-a-half-hour descent landed on solid ground. Although Cassini successfully relayed 350 of the pictures that it received from Huygens of its descent and landing site, a software error failed to turn on one of the Cassini receivers and resulted in the loss of the other 350 pictures. Enceladus flybys Enceladus backdropped by Saturn’s ring shadows in 2007 During the first two close flybys of the moon Enceladus in 2005, Cassini discovered a “deflection” in its local magnetic field that is characteristic for the existence of a thin but significant atmosphere. Other measurements obtained at that time point to ionized water vapor as being the atmosphere’s main constituent.

Cassini also observed water ice geysers erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, which gives more credibility to the idea that Enceladus is supplying the particles of Saturn’s E ring. Mission scientists hypothesize that there may be pockets of liquid water near the surface of the moon that fuel the eruptions, making Enceladus one of the few bodies in the Solar System known to contain liquid water. On March 12, 2008, Cassini made a close flyby of Enceladus, getting within 50 km of the moon’s surface. The spacecraft passed through the plumes extending from its southern geysers, detecting water, carbon dioxide, and various hydrocarbons with its mass spectrometer, while also mapping surface features with its infrared spectrometer that were measured to be at much higher temperature than their surroundings. Cassini was unable to collect data with its cosmic dust analyzer due to an unknown software malfunction. Radio occultations of Saturn’s rings In May 2005, Cassini began a series of occultation experiments to measure the size-distribution of particles in Saturn’s rings, and measure the atmosphere of Saturn itself.

For more than four months, Cassini completed orbits designed for this purpose. During these experiments, Cassini flew behind the ring plane of Saturn, as seen from Earth, and transmitted radio waves through the particles. The radio signals were received on Earth, where the frequency, phase, and power of the signal were analyzed to help determine the structure of the rings. Spoke phenomenon verified In images captured September 5, 2005, Cassini detected spokes in Saturn’s rings, previously seen only by the visual observer Stephen James O’Meara in 1977 and then confirmed by the Voyager space probes in the early 1980s. Lakes of Titan Radar images obtained on July 21, 2006, appear to show lakes of liquid hydrocarbon (such as methane and ethane) in Titan’s northern latitudes. This is the first discovery of currently-existing lakes anywhere besides Earth. The lakes range in size from one to 100 kilometers across.

Titan “sea” (left) compared at scale to Lake Superior (right) On March 13, 2007, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that it had found strong evidence of seas of methane and ethane in the northern hemisphere of Titan. At least one of these is larger than any of the Great Lakes in North America. A Saturnine hurricane In November 2006, scientists discovered a storm at the south pole of Saturn with a distinct eyewall. This is characteristic of Earth’s hurricanes and had never before been seen on another planet. Unlike a Terran hurricane, the storm appears to be stationary at the pole. The storm is 8,000 kilometers (5,000 mi) across, and 70 kilometres (43 mi) high, with winds blowing at 560 km/hr (350 mph). Great Storm of 2010 and its aftermath Storm in the North 2011 On October 25, 2012, Cassini witnessed the aftermath of the massive Great White Spot storm that recurs roughly every 30 years on Saturn.

Data from Cassini’s composite infrared spectrometer instrument indicated a powerful discharge from the storm that caused a temperature spike in the stratosphere of Saturn 150 °F (83 kelvins) above normal. Simultaneously, a huge increase in ethylene gas was detected by NASA researchers at Goddard Research Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Ethylene is a colorless and odorless gas that is highly uncommon on Saturn and is produced both naturally and through man-made sources on Earth. The storm that produced this discharge was first observed by Cassini on December 5, 2010, in Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The storm is the first of its kind to be observed by a spacecraft in orbit around Saturn as well as the first to be observed at thermal infrared wavelengths, allowing scientists to observe the temperature of Saturn’s atmosphere and track phenomena that are invisible to the naked eye. The spike of ethylene gas that was produced by the storm reached levels that were 100 times more than those thought possible for Saturn. Scientists have also determined that the storm witnessed was the largest, hottest stratospheric vortex ever detected in our solar system, initially being larger than Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.

Mission extension On April 15, 2008, Cassini received funding for a two-year extended mission. This consisted of 60 more orbits of Saturn, with 21 more close Titan flybys, seven of Enceladus, six of Mimas, eight of Tethys, and one targeted flyby each of Dione, Rhea, and Helene. The extended mission began on July 1, 2008, and was renamed the Cassini Equinox Mission as it coincided with Saturn’s equinox. A proposal was submitted to NASA for a second mission extension, provisionally named the extended-extended mission or XXM. This was subsequently approved and renamed the Cassini Solstice Mission. It will see Cassini orbiting Saturn 155 more times, conducting 54 additional flybys of Titan, and 11 more of Enceladus. The chosen mission ending is a series of very close Saturn passes, passing inside the rings, then a plunge into the Saturn atmosphere around the 2017 northern summer solstice, to destroy the spacecraft.

_______________________ Tackett Stan Tackett holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and computer science, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in computer science with specializations in uses of artificial intelligence in the nuclear industry. His interests in nuclear engineering include nuclear propulsion for space travel, fusion, computational fluid dynamics and reactor physics. In his spare time he reads Piers Anthony as much as possible, and enjoys writing and editing crossover science fiction stories. Cassini-Huygens is a space mission aiming to study the planet Saturn and its satellites. Pictured is an artist's impression. - Image - Aerospace Technology About us » Cassini–Huygens Spacecraft, United States of America Cassini-Huygens is a space mission aiming to study the planet Saturn and its satellites. Pictured is an artist's impression. Cassini: Mission to Saturn: Overview Magnetosphere Science Overview From 20 degrees above the ring plane, Cassini’s wide angle camera shot 75 exposures in succession for this mosaic showing Saturn, its rings and a few of its moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun’s disk was exactly overhead at the planet’s equator.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Before Cassini, we had only brief glimpses of the discoveries awaiting us at Saturn. Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 conducted flybys decades ago, taking pictures, measurements and observations as they zoomed past. These missions shed new light on Saturn’s complicated ring system, discovered new moons and made the first measurements of Saturn’s magnetosphere. But these quick encounters didn’t allow time for more extensive scientific research. Cassini changed all that. It began the first in-depth, up-close study of Saturn and its system of rings and moons in 2004. It became the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, beginning a mission that yielded troves of new insights over more than a decade. The Saturnian system proved to be rich ground for exploration and discoveries, and Cassini's science findings changed the course of future planetary exploration. "We're looking at a string of remarkable discoveries -- about Saturn's magnificent rings, its amazing moons, its dynamic magnetosphere and Titan's surface and atmosphere," said Linda Spilker, Cassini's project scientist.

"Some of the mission highlights so far include discovering that Titan has Earth-like processes and that the small moon Enceladus has a hot-spot at its southern pole, plus jets on the surface that spew out ice crystals, and liquid water beneath its surface." Cassini let us see beneath Titan's thick orange haze. This synthetic aperture radar image taken by Cassini has abundant evidence for flowing liquids, from sinuous, wide river channels to shorter, more chaotic drainage patterns. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI Studying Saturn’s Many Moons Some of the most surprising scientific findings have come from encounters with Saturn’s fascinating, dynamic moons. Cassini's observations of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, have given scientists a glimpse of what Earth might have been like before life evolved. They now believe Titan possesses many parallels to Earth, including lakes, rivers, channels, dunes, rain, clouds, mountains and possibly volcanoes. The data from the Cassini spacecraft and the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which plunged through Titan's dense, smoggy atmosphere to land on its surface in 2005, have generated hundreds of scientific articles and been the subject of special issues of the world’s most important scientific journals.

Enceladus, too, proved to be a rich source of discovery. The spray of icy particles from the surface jets forms a towering plume three times taller than the width of Enceladus itself. Cassini confirmed that the plume feeds particles into Saturn's most expansive ring, the E ring. The spacecraft has come as close as 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the moon's icy surface during its investigation, revealing the presence of a global subsurface ocean that might have conditions suitable for life. Saturn's moon Enceladus backlit by the sun show the fountain-like sources of the fine spray of material that towers over the south polar region. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Extending the Mission The Cassini mission has seen two mission extensions, allowing for more flybys, investigations and measurements, over a longer span of time. When its initial four-year tour of the Saturn system was complete in 2008, the Cassini-Huygens saga had brought a new dimension of understanding to the complex and diverse Saturn system. The two-year Cassini Equinox Mission brought continued excitement.

During that first extended mission, the spacecraft made 60 additional orbits of Saturn, 26 flybys of Titan, seven of Enceladus, and one each of Dione, Rhea and Helene. The Equinox mission allowed for observations of Saturn's rings as the sun lit them edge-on, revealing a host of never-before-seen insights into the rings' structure. Since 2010, the spacecraft has conducted a second, seven-year-long, extended mission called the Cassini Solstice Mission. This final mission will conclude with a phase known as The Grand Finale -- 22 deep dives between Saturn's cloud tops and innermost ring before it plunges into the giant planet's atmosphere. Why “Equinox” and “Solstice”? Saturn’s axis is tilted with respect to its orbit around the sun, similar to Earth. And just like on Earth, Saturn has seasons as a result of this tilt. But on Saturn, one season lasts seven Earth years. Cassini initially arrived just after Saturn's northern winter solstice, and the Solstice Mission continues until a few months past the northern summer solstice in May 2017.

A complete seasonal period on Saturn has never been studied at this level of detail. The Solstice mission schedule allows for an additional 155 orbits around the planet, 54 flybys of Titan and 11 flybys of the icy moon Enceladus. Science Instruments Cassini carries 12 science instruments to collect a wide range of information about the Saturnian environment. These sophisticated devices take images across the infrared, visible and ultraviolet light spectra, detect dust particles, and characterize Saturn's plasma environment and magnetosphere. Missions | Cassini-Huygens missions Cloudsat ABOUT THE MISSION Orbiting the ringed planet Saturn and its numerous moons, the Cassini spacecraft has been and continues to be a keystone of exploration of the Saturnian system and the properties of gaseous planets in our solar system. A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency, or ESA, and the Italian Space Agency, Cassini launched in 1997 along with ESA's Huygens probe. The spacecraft contributed to studies of Jupiter for six months in 2000 before reaching its destination, Saturn, in 2004 and starting a string of flybys of Saturn's moons.

That same year it released the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan to conduct a study of the moon's atmosphere and surface composition. Now in its second extended mission, which goes through 2017, Cassini will make the first observations of a complete seasonal period for Saturn and its moons. Mission Events December 30, 2000: Cassini-Huygens takes a six-month swing by Jupiter to pick up speed for its journey to Saturn and collaborates with NASA's Galileo spacecraft to study the Jovian system. June 30, 2004: Cassini arrives at Saturn. December 13, 2004: Cassini-Huygens makes its first flyby of a Saturnian moon, two in fact: Titan and Dione. For a full list of Cassini's flybys since 2004, visit: December 24, 2004: The Cassini spacecraft releases the European Space Agency-built Huygens probe at Saturn's moon Titan. January 14, 2005: The Huygens probe makes its descent through Titan's atmosphere to sample the chemical composition and surface properties of the Saturnian moon.

June 2008: Cassini completes its primary mission to explore the Saturn system and begins its mission extension (Cassini Equinox Mission). September 2010: Cassini completes its extended mission (Cassini Equinox Mission) and begins its second mission extension (Cassini Solstice Mission), which goes through 2017 and will make the first observations of a complete seasonal period for Saturn and its moons. Learn more at . December 2011:Cassini uses its synthetic aperture radar to obtain the highest resolution images yet of Saturn's moon Enceladus. December 2012: Cassini uses its visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, or VIMS, instrument to track the transit of Venus -- a first for a spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. The exercise is to test the feasibility of using Cassini's VIMS to observe planets outside our solar system. March 2013: Cassini makes its last flyby of Saturn's moon Rhea, probing the internal structure of the moon by measuring the gravitational pull of Rhea against the spacecraft's steady radio link to NASA's Deep Space Network here on Earth.

July 2013: Cassini images a backlit Saturn to examine the planet's rings in fine detail and captures a pixel-size Earth in the process. In a campaign to raise awareness about the photo shoot, NASA encourages Earthlings to go outside and wave at Saturn. Scientific Instrument(s)

Question: Cassini-Huygens is a spacecraft mission to which planet and its satellites?
Answer: SATURN